What happened to dopey women?

[Et_Cetera]

Sorry to go off topic, but to the OP: I like your Homestar signature.

 

[jkarp]

There have been some wonderful sitcoms in the last decade or so that showed good male role models.

Cosby Show
Family Matters (the one with Urkel)
Step By Step
Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper
Full House
Family Ties
*My Wife and Kids *
Happy Days (actually, that was a 70s show!)
Webster

Cosby Show - 1984 - 1992
Family Matters - 1989 - 1998
Step By Step - 1991 - 1997
Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper - 1992 - 1997
Full House - 1987 - 1995
Family Ties - 1982 - 1989
My Wife and Kids - 2001 - 2005
Happy Days - 1974 - 1984
Webster - 1983 - 1987
The Unit - Present

It’s a sad illustration that the sum total of this discussion has been able to list only 2 shows that have aired in the past 10 years :crying: that have decent family morals and a strong male role model.

My wife just suggested that Seventh Heaven be added to the list; this is probably the strongest show that I can think of. However, even this show started getting a little bit weird about 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[Larowyn]

Family Matters doesn’t fully count because they made Urkel the focus at one point.

 

[Ghoti]

I thought it was Bewitched that had the first television depiction of a married couple sharing a bed.

Bewitched may very well have been the first one to show “actors playing man and wife on-screen but not married in real life” in the same bed. Mebbe.

EDIT: Actually, according to this Snopes article, it was Mary Kay and Johnny, from 1947.

And the following pre-Bewitched couples shared a bed:

• Fred and Wilma Flintstone (might not count – they were animated)
• Herman and Lily Munster (might not count - they possibly weren’t human)
• Ozzie and Harriet (married in real life)
• I’ve seen stills of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (I Love Lucy) in the same bed, along with stills of them in separate beds, holding hands and eating popsicles, but only in an article about TV censorship in the fifties. According to TV Acres, Fred and Ethel, of all people, were the first on that series to be shown “in bed”, not the actually-married couple of Lucy and Desi.

It apparently dates back to the old Hayes Code, the same TV law that prevented Barbara Eden from exposing her navel and scaring the horses.

 

[Larowyn]

Scaring the horses?

 

[Nickkname]

Is anyone else tired of seeing men portrayed in commercials as moronic, lazy, and overweight “yes, dear”-type husbands who like to drink beer and watch The Game and cook on the grill and fear the wrath of their wives? Whenever women are in commercials, if they aren’t portrayed as successful single moms with a huge house, a gas-guzzling SUV, and a great and flawless lifestyle, they have emasculated husbands and know everything. It’s like it became illegal around 1999 to suggest that maybe husbands and wives are equals and compliment each other and that women aren’t superior to their husbands. Not that women should be subservient to their husbands and dote on their every need, but it would be nice to see the tables turned once in a while.

Materialism, feminism…I could go on with reasons why this is, but I won’t. You’ve also forgotten that a lot of woman in television commericals are portrayed as sex-hungry sluts. Sex and power sells in America. Thankfully, we can all pray to the Lord our God.

 

[LilyM]

Bewitched may very well have been the first one to show “actors playing man and wife on-screen but not married in real life” in the same bed. Mebbe.

EDIT: Actually, according to this Snopes article, it was Mary Kay and Johnny, from 1947.

And the following pre-Bewitched couples shared a bed:

• Fred and Wilma Flintstone (might not count – they were animated)
• Herman and Lily Munster (might not count - they possibly weren’t human)
• Ozzie and Harriet (married in real life)
• I’ve seen stills of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (I Love Lucy) in the same bed, along with stills of them in separate beds, holding hands and eating popsicles, but only in an article about TV censorship in the fifties. According to TV Acres, Fred and Ethel, of all people, were the first on that series to be shown “in bed”, not the actually-married couple of Lucy and Desi.

It apparently dates back to the old Hayes Code, the same TV law that prevented Barbara Eden from exposing her navel and scaring the horses.

Lucy? I can’t believe that, she wasn’t even allowed to use the word ‘pregnant’ on TV, she had to say ‘I’m going to have a baby’.

 

[Cat]

Family Matters doesn’t fully count because they made Urkel the focus at one point.

So what’s wrong with Steve Urkel?!

He was incredibly intelligent, friendly, popular, clever, he drove his own car that he earned with his own money, and in one episode, he became a Christian. He was in love with his next-door neighbor, but didn’t try to muscle in when she chose other “good-looking” men. He was a gentleman.

I think it’s cool that the actor became so popular with teenagers back then, including my young girls. When Urkel was around, it was OK for young teenaged boys to be intelligent and a little nerdy.

I think it would be even more misleading to portray all intelligent teenaged boys as incredible hunks who are also athletic, good artists who play in bands or star in musicals, volunteers in their community, entrepenours with their own cottage business, and saints.

I realize that a few of these lucky guys that have everything exist, but most teenaged boys have just one or maybe two of these gifts: intelligence, good looks, athleticism, artistic gifts, community spirit, business savvy, and religious fervor. Urkel had a few: intelligence, community spirit, and religious fervor. To portray teenaged boys as “superboys” with everything makes the ordinary boy feel inadequate. Urkel was a lot more “real.”

 

[whatevergirl]

I don’t really think anyone needs to be depicted as ‘dopey’ for a comedy to be successful. I never liked when a man or woman are ridiculed or put down in a sitcom, as part of the humor of the show. I Love Lucy, was such a different genre altogether–hard to compare some of today’s comedies with Lucille Ball, who was far from a dopey woman in real life, as opposed to her ‘reel’ life.

Once the production moguls of Hollow-wood started putting out films/tv series, showing women beating up men, and men responding with beating them back…we now have a very different persona of women, and men. I think it is a downright disgusting message to send to young boys nowadays, ‘if a girl hits you, hit her back,’ basically…and tells our young women…‘turn to violence to get your own way.’ It really is sick.

I miss I Love Lucy, the Flintstones, and Green Acres…all innocent and funny…think we are in darker times now.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Bewitched may very well have been the first one to show “actors playing man and wife on-screen but not married in real life” in the same bed. Mebbe.

EDIT: Actually, according to this Snopes article, it was Mary Kay and Johnny, from 1947.

And the following pre-Bewitched couples shared a bed:

• Fred and Wilma Flintstone (might not count – they were animated)
• Herman and Lily Munster (might not count - they possibly weren’t human)
• Ozzie and Harriet (married in real life)
• I’ve seen stills of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (I Love Lucy) in the same bed, along with stills of them in separate beds, holding hands and eating popsicles, but only in an article about TV censorship in the fifties. According to TV Acres, Fred and Ethel, of all people, were the first on that series to be shown “in bed”, not the actually-married couple of Lucy and Desi.

It apparently dates back to the old Hayes Code, the same TV law that prevented Barbara Eden from exposing her navel and scaring the horses.

I’m a pretty big “I love lucy” fan…and in the first season they shared a bed. The episode where Lucy and Ricky bet on who can keep from gossiping the longest shows a scene where they are sleeping in the same bed. I thin it was allowed because they were actually married.

But oddly, I just saw a film with them on Sunday, “The Long Long Trailer” and they were shown in separate beds…

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I miss I Love Lucy, the Flintstones, and Green Acres…all innocent and funny…think we are in darker times now.

I found a cable channel that has the Flintstones. My children actually saw a couple of episodes. It was really nice to hear them laughing at all the gags.

My DD couldn’t remember the title, so she asked me, “Mommy, can we watch the show where they don’t wear any shoes?”

 

[Cat]

The bed issue is a side one, IMO.

I heard a stat recently that around 25% of married couples don’t share a bed, and many sleep in separate rooms.

The usual reason is the snoring of one of the spouses.

My husband was a snorer until last fall and I was averaging around 3 hours of sleep a night. I simply can’t sleep through snoring and heavy sighing breathing. (I also could never sleep with babies or children for the same reason–breathing noises really disturb me. ANY noise at night really disturbs me!)

When he FINALLY went to a sleep center, was diagnosed with mild apnea, and given a C-Pap. It’s not very romantic-looking, but boy, is it ever nice to get a full night’s sleep again! And he feels better, too!

I think a lot of couples with incompatible sleep habits sleep in separate beds or rooms. I think in the past, this was even more common. No big deal.

What I think is even more disturbing is how many husbands are portrayed on TV as sex-grubbing nymphomaniacs. This is especially true of Everybody Loves Raymond. My younger daughter once described this show: “Raymond wants to have sex with his wife, but she always turns him down and then the show proceeds to show how he’s just a selfish pig who never thinks about anything except sex, and thank goodness for his intelligent wife who knows that there is more to life than sex.”

I realize that this show is a Christian sacred cow; my parents-in-law consider it the most decent show on TV. Interestingly, they do a LOT of bickering–it’s so frustrating for me and my husband to listen to them rag against each other. But it’s understandable–they’ve probably picked it up from watching Everybody Loves Raymond. The thing is, bickering is only funny on TV; it’s not funny at all in real life.

I think that most situation comedies present a very warped view of married sex (not to mention unmarried sex!).

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Some male leads from sitcoms in the 50s and 60s:

Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) in Leave It To Beaver
Jim Anderson (Robert Young) in Father Knows Best
Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) in My Three Sons
Danny Williams (Danny Thomas) in Make Room for Daddy
Ozzie Nelson, Ozzie and Harriet
Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby), The Courtship of Eddie’s Father

Don’t forget the DickVanDyke Show!

 

[Catie]

Shows like Dr.Quinn Medcine Woman and Road to Avonlea had both men who were quality husbands and women who were their equals and independent in their own right. They were set over 100 years ago, but aired in the '90s.

 

[Cat]

I think it’s important for families to talk over what they see on TV and filter it through the truth of Christianity.

Sometimes an icky show that is discussed by the whole family over dinner might actually be a better Christian values teaching tool than a squeaky-clean show that everyone just watches without giving it a thought.

 

[Lucania]

I don’t know about sit-coms these days, but I have noticed that alot of commercials that have a Father in it, he is usually shown as a Dufus and over-weight:shrug: .

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Is anyone else tired of seeing men portrayed in commercials as moronic, lazy, and overweight “yes, dear”-type husbands who like to drink beer and watch The Game and cook on the grill and fear the wrath of their wives? Whenever women are in commercials, if they aren’t portrayed as successful single moms with a huge house, a gas-guzzling SUV, and a great and flawless lifestyle, they have emasculated husbands and know everything. It’s like it became illegal around 1999 to suggest that maybe husbands and wives are equals and compliment each other and that women aren’t superior to their husbands. Not that women should be subservient to their husbands and dote on their every need, but it would be nice to see the tables turned once in a while.

I can’t stand the way men are portrayed in this man-hating media world.